How to unlink my Documents folder from my OneDrive account?

I have recently changed the location of my Documents folder (originally located in C:\Users\TermoZour\Documents) to C:\Users\TermoZour\OneDrive\Documents so I could sync the documents folder between 2 PCs.

Now I want to remove this "link", but I can't. Whenever I try to "Restore Default Location" it indeed sees the default location as expected, but then it asks me if I want to move all the files from the old directory (OneDrive) to the new one (default Documents directory), so I click yes. After this, it tells me that "it can't remove the folder because there is a folder in the same location that can't be redirected. Access denied."

I tried to move all the files from OneDrive into a separate folder and do the process again, but it gave me the same error.

I tried to choose another new location instead of the default one, but it gave me the same error.

Solution 1:

According to the Microsoft Support article linked by vembutech, you can use the following workaround.

Important

Follow the steps in this section carefully. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Before you modify it, back up the registry for restoration in case problems occur.

To work around this issue, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Windows logo at the lower-left corner of the screen, and then click Run.

2. Type regedit.exe and press Enter. If User Account Control window pops up, click Yes.

3. In Registry Editor, browse to the following path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

4. Refer to the following table to find the registry key for the folder that encounters this issue, and change it to the default value.

+-----------+----------------------------------------+-------------------------+
|  Folder   |              Registry key              |      Default value      |
+-----------+----------------------------------------+-------------------------+
| Downloads | {374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B} | %USERPROFILE%\Downloads |
| Desktop   | Desktop                                | %USERPROFILE%\Desktop   |
| Favorites | Favorites                              | %USERPROFILE%\Favorites |
| Music     | My Music                               | %USERPROFILE%\Music     |
| Pictures  | My Pictures                            | %USERPROFILE%\Pictures  |
| Videos    | My Video                               | %USERPROFILE%\Videos    |
| Documents | Personal                               | %USERPROFILE%\Documents |
+-----------+----------------------------------------+-------------------------+

5. Restart the Explorer.exe process to make the changes take effect. To do this, you can use either of the following steps:

• Restart the process in Task Manager.
• Sign out, and then sign in.
• Restart the computer.

Solution 2:

You can now go to settings and click on Backup> Manage Backup and Stop backing up the Desktop, Pictures and Documents.

Solution 3:

No need for editing the registry. It takes about a minute to reverse the OneDrive "protect your important folders" steps.

Select the OneDrive (white or blue cloud) icon in the Windows notification area, and then in the activity center, select More > Settings > Auto Save > Update folders. Now deselect the folder(s) you want to make local and then choose to stop protection (no more cloud cloning/syncing).

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/sync-your-documents-pictures-and-desktop-folders-with-onedrive-d61a7930-a6fb-4b95-b28a-6552e77c3057

Every folder you deselect will be created for you on your local disk in the default location (and more*, read on). The process will provide shortcuts in these folders and their subfolders* called "Where are my files" which is a link to the corresponding OneDrive cloud location. *It also means your new folders may have a bunch of empty subfolders (save for the aforementioned shortcut). Your new folder's structure is a fileless clone of the corresponding previous folder's structure which still exists on OneDrive. Each (sub)folder only contains the cloud shortcut and any subfolders, but nothing more. In the newly created local folder, prune away any subfolders you don't want and delete any of the shortcuts you have no need for.

Solution 4:

I just upgraded a computer from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and ran into the same issue. You do not need to modify the Registry when you get the "...can't be redirected. Access denied." error.

Instead of right-clicking on a folder under "This PC" in an Explorer window and trying to change the location through Properties > Location > Restore Default button, I was able to change the location of my Documents and Pictures folders from OneDrive to local storage by doing the following:

1. Right-click the OneDrive cloud icon located towards the bottom right of the screen in the Taskbar.
2. Click the Help & Settings button.
3. Select Settings from the menu that appears.
4. Click the Account tab.
5. Click the Choose folders button.
6. Uncheck the folders you do not want to use as OneDrive storage. (In my case I had to expand the Documents and Pictures folders and uncheck the Files in "Documents" and Files in "Pictures" boxes before the parent folders were no longer checked.)

After completing these steps my locations under "This PC" reverted to my local Documents and Pictures folders instead of the OneDrive folders.